Jessica Sutich

Do gay people get tired of having to come out to people?

Yes. A long time ago I came out. First I told my journal that I suspected myself of being gay. Then I finally told it the truth. My journal had to take some time to get used to the idea. For a while every time I would write “gay”, my journal would translate it to read “bi-sexual”—seriously, you can go back and read the entries as proof. Eventually though, my journal learned to accept it. Then I told my parents and it was pretty much the same process. By the time I got to telling friends, I had one “very special moment” in which I actually started a conversation of with, “Can we talk? For a while I have been trying to figure out how to say this…” Somewhere in the middle of that conversation I started hating myself and I haven’t ever gone down that road again. I began to find more creative ways to work it into conversation. Also, for a while one of my friends found it amusing to introduce me to anyone new as, “his lesbian friend Jess.” At first I thought to myself, but I’m so much more than that. Then I just gave up and figured, that takes care of that.

The dilemma is this, you just can’t tell everyone. People close to you know but you are always in new situations, or there are distant relatives or acquaintances that aren’t in the know and so it just feels sometimes like it goes on forever. For example, it has now been years since I came out, and yet I still have to tell people more often than you would think. Especially considering the fact that I run a blog called Ask a Gay. Actually, the entire reason for me starting this blog, might be my way of hoping to never having to tell people again. This isn’t about shame folks, this is about the awkwardness of forcing someone into a revelation conversation. Straight people, try it. Find an acquaintance. Ask them out to lunch and at some point over the course of the meal say, “I just wanted to let you know. I’ve begun dating someone new. This might be surprising, but…” Then bring it on home by flooring them with the news that you are seeing someone of the opposite sex. Even stranger, try this in the work place with your work friends. Work friends are already a strange combination of small-talk and random assignment let alone having to say to them, “So this year at the office Christmas party I was going to bring the person I am dating and I just thought you should know…” This is why I refuse to do it. I have decided to just do what straight people do. Show up with my girlfriend and head for the bar. If Dan in accounting or those extended family members look surprised, well there you go. I heard that Dan still lives with his mother, and everyone knows that Aunt Mary and Uncle Fred haven’t slept in the same bedroom since the Reagan administration. What can you do?

It works. People have a small a-ha moment and then everyone moves on with their lives. Because you haven’t asked them to weigh in with advice or opinions, they don’t. You also get to experience something that always surprises me, some people won’t get it. You go to a wedding with your girlfriend, you dance together, you have a grand old time, and yet there will be some people, often the older folks, who just think, “well doesn’t she have a lovely friend.” Really, is that so bad? There is a theory that it is really important to make Grandma face the facts, but I guess I just don’t care. I’m already doing what I want to do by happily living my life with whoever I want to and if Aunt Edna wants to google me, then she will definitely find out about my alternative lifestyle. Beyond that I had my shocking season three sit-com outing years ago and I’m ready to move on. I also encourage you to spare someone the situation. Since we all know that being gay is completely fine and normal, then if you have a friend who has not told you in a long time that they are dating anyone new and they seem to hang around with one really good friend ALL the time. Try saying to this friend, “hey are you guys dating?” Then they can say, “Yes, my goodness, thought I mentioned that.” And if they freak out on you then that will be okay too, because then they can get into therapy sooner rather than later. That will take care of that!